Singer Rihanna was in Mumbai recently for the India launch of her brand Fenty Beauty, hosted by Tira Beauty and Sephora. The event was attended by several beauty influencers and celebrities, including Isha Ambani, Janhvi Kapoor, and Manish Malhotra.
Influencer Yashita Damani shared her experience of attending the Fenty Beauty event online.
The internet is flooded with videos from the event that show Rihanna, dressed in a custom Alaïa all-black look, clicking pictures with Isha Ambani, interacting with influencers, and having a blast. However, it seems the Umbrella singer was fashionably late and spent little time at the event after making everyone wait for 5 hours.
On April 26, Yashita Damani, a beauty and travel influencer, shared her experience of attending the Fenty Beauty event on Instagram. She shared the video with the caption, “Yesterday’s event tea. We waited 5 HOURS for Rihanna…and I left before she arrived. People came on Friday and basically left on Saturday, waiting for Rihanna.”
Did Rihanna make people wait for five hours?
“Imagine the main guest arriving five hours late for the event. Let me tell you about the event tea from yesterday. We were told that Fenty Beauty starts at 7:30. Cute, normal, reasonable. So, everyone shows up, dressed, and already excited because the queen, Rihanna, was supposed to appear,” Yashita shared in the video.
However, 7:30 came and went, then 8, then 9, and the singer never arrived. According to the influencer, at this point, everyone thought she might just be fashionably late. But then hours passed, and she still didn’t arrive.
“People were literally sitting, standing, pacing, and checking their phones. The crowd was tired, hungry, confused, but still waiting because it was Rihanna. Midnight came, then it was 1 AM. Mind you, people came to this event on a Friday night and were basically about to go home on a Saturday morning,” she added.
The influencer confessed that the ‘craziest part’ was that the singer finally arrived at 3 AM. “Honestly, I had already left. Thank God I did, because waiting five hours for a two-minute appearance? We love the queen, but honestly, at what cost? Please know that everything on social media isn’t real,” she added.
How did the internet react?
The internet was not impressed with Rihanna’s late arrival and stressed that brands must respect people’s time as much as they care about the celebrity. One Instagram user commented, “It takes real guts to put this while other influencers are hyping up the event without showing the reality. You got guts, girl.”
Someone else wrote, “If all of you had cumulatively decided to leave, such big celebs and pr companies would’ve learned a lesson that you’re not their free fund employees to do whatever they say.” Another user commented, “I didn’t see 1 influencer talk about this. Thanks for being real.”
Celebrity makeup artist Sandhya Shekhar commented, “That’s why I didn’t even come to the event, even after being invited. Wish brands valued other people’s time.” Someone else commented, “Everyone’s time is important. Good that you left. QUEEN BEHAVIOUR.”